I had surgery with general anesthesia a week ago and have noticed that my sense of taste and smell are both off. I have a weird sensation when I breathe-kind of metallic and cool feeling. Everything tastes a little different too. I drink a lot of diet cokes, but ever since the surgery, they taste a little flat.
I have had quite a few surgeries but never remember this feeling before. Could this be a side effect from the general anesthesia? Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?

I had surgery in my nose so yeah.. I couldn't smell for a while lol
It didn't affect my sense of taste at all though. I know everyone responds differently to anesthesia but I've never heard of anyone having a metallic taste. I'd get that checked out.

I just had a mediport put in-they had to do general at the last minute much to my displeasure!! Anyway, the surgery itself couldn't have had any affect on my taste/smell sensation, so the only thing I can think of is the anesthesia.

You may want to reconsider the diet sodas. They are sweetened with aspartame which is very toxic. Do a search for Aspartame dangers. You will be amazed at the number of adverse effects from aspartame. There is 92 of them.

You may want to reconsider the diet sodas. They are sweetened with aspartame which is very toxic. Do a search for Aspartame dangers. You will be amazed at the number of adverse effects from aspartame. There is 92 of them.

I have actually cut back on the diet cokes. I think it would be unlikely that the aspartame would just happen to affect my taste/smell right after I had surgery.
I've heard others who have had long term effects from general anesthesia. I have had 19 surgeries with about half of them requiring general anesthesia-could there be cumulative damage over the years?

just a real 'possible' here? i wouldn't think it would be the general itself here so much as the actual 'intubation' process that gets done by the anesthesiologist at the very beginning of the surgery once you are actually 'out'? it would just seem much more a 'likely' possibility since this would definitely be the only thing that would or could possibly even come into contact with very real cranial nerves that simply DO, with certain ones, actually innervate the soft upper palate, the nasopharynx and the at the very least the upper throat area? like i said, just a more 'likley' scenerio than anesthesia would be i would think. but depending upon the actual aneasthetic used,that would also didtate any possible side effects too kindof thing?

i would look up 'cranial nerves" and just really look to see what would even possibly be within the real contact area when it involves the mouth and throat. it wouldn't hurt either for you to simply obtain ALL of your op notes from that procedure for this too? including ANY anesthesia op notes too? everyone who simply plays their own bigger part in any surgery by law, HAS to make their own 'op notes" as to how their part in it went?

during ANY real intubation process, and this is part of the consent form you sign before any surgery gets done, has the very real possibility to cause possible 'incidents" like chipped teeth or even scrapeing the back of the throat with either the scope or even the tube itself. also, wherever that tube lies more outside your mouth ,if it is too long of a time period with solid compression, it does have the possibility for causeing at least some level of nerve impact. but it is usually more early on in the healing process from your surgery and will slowly go away with time kind of thing?

but considering what you are taliking about that is being impacted here,i would first take a good look at all the cranials that flow thru the area that just 'could' have been a bit more vulnerable to being damaged in the first place? its just our heads and the upper throat areas are sooo heavily innervated with so much real cranial nerve crossover that certain types of damage just could be possible. but some can and will tend to try and right themselves over time depending upon true impact? but also DO obtain your own op notes. i have always done this will all my six surgeries and my aneurysm coiling too. some interesting reading there at times. just finding out what type of anesthesia they used then searching some on it really would tell you about any possible side effects from THAT particular type of anesthesia. they DO have some very different types of options when it comes to that too. but personally i think this would have much more basis upon the intubation itself and not so much the actual anesthesia? i do have what you have going on on one side of my nose with loss of about at least 50% of taste and smell? but my damage was done to the sympathetic nervous system and that is my reason for this to be there in me(is there ANY actual changes in the look of both pupils when compared to one another? how does each react to light?). what you have going on just really does sound very much more nerve related in some way. i do hope everything simply rights itself with some time here soon for you. sounds like you have been thru more than enough already. please keep us posted, FB

just a real 'possible' here? i wouldn't think it would be the general itself here so much as the actual 'intubation' process that gets done by the anesthesiologist at the very beginning of the surgery once you are actually 'out'? it would just seem much more a 'likely' possibility since this would definitely be the only thing that would or could possibly even come into contact with very real cranial nerves that simply DO, with certain ones, actually innervate the soft upper palate, the nasopharynx and the at the very least the upper throat area? like i said, just a more 'likley' scenerio than anesthesia would be i would think. but depending upon the actual aneasthetic used,that would also didtate any possible side effects too kindof thing?

i would look up 'cranial nerves" and just really look to see what would even possibly be within the real contact area when it involves the mouth and throat. it wouldn't hurt either for you to simply obtain ALL of your op notes from that procedure for this too? including ANY anesthesia op notes too? everyone who simply plays their own bigger part in any surgery by law, HAS to make their own 'op notes" as to how their part in it went?

during ANY real intubation process, and this is part of the consent form you sign before any surgery gets done, has the very real possibility to cause possible 'incidents" like chipped teeth or even scrapeing the back of the throat with either the scope or even the tube itself. also, wherever that tube lies more outside your mouth ,if it is too long of a time period with solid compression, it does have the possibility for causeing at least some level of nerve impact. but it is usually more early on in the healing process from your surgery and will slowly go away with time kind of thing?

but considering what you are taliking about that is being impacted here,i would first take a good look at all the cranials that flow thru the area that just 'could' have been a bit more vulnerable to being damaged in the first place? its just our heads and the upper throat areas are sooo heavily innervated with so much real cranial nerve crossover that certain types of damage just could be possible. but some can and will tend to try and right themselves over time depending upon true impact? but also DO obtain your own op notes. i have always done this will all my six surgeries and my aneurysm coiling too. some interesting reading there at times. just finding out what type of anesthesia they used then searching some on it really would tell you about any possible side effects from THAT particular type of anesthesia. they DO have some very different types of options when it comes to that too. but personally i think this would have much more basis upon the intubation itself and not so much the actual anesthesia? i do have what you have going on on one side of my nose with loss of about at least 50% of taste and smell? but my damage was done to the sympathetic nervous system and that is my reason for this to be there in me(is there ANY actual changes in the look of both pupils when compared to one another? how does each react to light?). what you have going on just really does sound very much more nerve related in some way. i do hope everything simply rights itself with some time here soon for you. sounds like you have been thru more than enough already. please keep us posted, FB

Thanks for the info!

Here is the hard/weird part. They were only putting in a mediport, but because this was my 6th one my doctor was afraid that he would have a really hard time. He wantd to do general from the start, but I said I didn't want general, I wanted conscious sedation. He said he would try it that way, but he couldn't promise. I fell 2 days before surgery and was really sore. Evidentally with just the conscious sedation I was still moving too much (he said probably because I was so sore). He said that I kept moving my arm, so they had to use general, but they also told me that they didn't intubate me. So....I'm not sure if they just used gas or what they did, but anyway I was not intubated, but they said they did have to use general?
This Dr. is someone I really trust and has put most of my other ports in without general, so I do know he knows what he is doing. I have a bunch of other medical issues and I guess my taste/smell issues could be related to something else, but it does seem weird that it has only been since my last surgery. :/

now THAT is just crazy. i have never heard of a surgeon using actual general anesthesia without having to intubate since they also will usually use some type of a paralytic(hence that real NEED to intubate for breathing) as well in order to just keep the patient from moving at all? did they actually TELL you without a doubt that there was NO intubation or did you wake up and no tube was still in your throat? the only thing i can think of here(and of course i am only going by experiences i have had) is that they may have had to simply use propofal? that drug that MJ was like abusing TO SLEEP? i had this during my rotator cuff sugery since i only used the actual intracalene block with NO general and no intubation, just a fent/versed cocktail that is kind of the 'a standard' in certain types of procedures? but i actually did wake up to feeling an area of pain during it(this just can happen with certain blocks not always hitting every single nook and cranny) but they DID give me a shot of propofal and boom i was out like a light and then "woke up' about ten min later still in the OR but everything was done, and propo does NOT require any intubation at all since you are just kind of 'asleep" to a certian degree? this info was actually in my anesthesiologists op notes on my surgery thats the only reason i actually know what was indeed used? i seriously would obtain EVERY single documant in your central file at they have at the hosp on this particular surgery. and DO make certain to specify that you also WANT all of the anesthesiologists op notes too?

do you have ANY actual c spine problems at all?when you mentioned that you 'fell' before the surgery date? exactly what DID you land on and how did you actually fall? you very easily could have injured something with that including your c spine area which just does contain ALL of ther spinal tracts that run to and from the brain?? just a shot here.

what condition do you have that required the port to have to be inserted? just what is the difference between a mediport and a pic line? was this actually inserted into like the forearm for dialysis or something? i have only heard that type of 'port" referred to as just a 'shunt' and not an actual 'named' type of shunt?(i worked EMS for many years so i am familiar with what that is) what other medical conditions do you just have going on in you right now?

sorry, i stupidly hit the dang caps lock again(down below) and did not notice til i was done and i do not have the energy in my hands to go back and change it, sorry.slap!

just DO obtain those surgical records from that hospital. i have had to have six surgeries and an aneurysm coiling done all since like 2001? and i have every single document from every single surgery in my possession just becausE I WANTED TO know WHAT WAS DONE, WHO DID WHAT AND WHAT WAS ACTUALLY USED ON ME DURING MY SURGERIES? ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH YOUR ACTUAL ANESTHESIA WOULD SIMPLY be IN THE ANES'S OP NOTES THAT HE OR SHE ALSO HAS TO MAKE FOLLOWING ANY SURGICAL PROCEDURE. AT LEAST YOU WOULD HAVE NAMES OF MEDS USED TO FOLLOW UP ON DOING THIS? IT MAY HELP. sorry again. i hate when i do that and i don't see it. but i would get those r3ecords hon and go from there. whoknows if what did get used on you could actually HAVE what you are experiencing as a side effect right now? some of the really insane meds that just get usesd during surgeries can really DO some crazy stuff to us. and if there are other underlying problems there as well, anything could be a possible too ya know? hopefully getting those records will at least give you more info than you have now anyways. good luck with this, FB

The plan was to use Versed and Propofal. They gave me the versed a little too early and it had worn off, so they gave me another dose-then they started the propofal (dip drip). My doc had told me that he could not promise that he would not put me all the way under because this was my 6th port and he wasn't sure how long he would have to be in there because there was so much scar tissue. So, I went in hoping for just the versed and propofal, but when I woke up, the 1st thing they told me was that they did have to use general. I was a little ticked off, but was so nauseated I didn't ask further. My husband then later told me that my surgeon told him that they did use general because I kept moving my arm, but that they did not have to intubate me. So....I don't really know what else was used except that it was not just the versed and propofal as I had wanted.

I had necrotizing faciitis (flesh-eating bacteria) one time on my thigh and the surgeon (different surgeon) would not agree to just use the versed and propofal, even though it was s a small area. I vaguely remember him saying the same thing, that he was afraid I would move my leg so he wanted to use general, but then I was not intubated. Maybe there is some kind of in between, where they need you perfectly still, but not ALL the way out. I will ask next time I go back.

A mediport (mine is called a power port, which means it can also be used with power injection machines used for CT contrasts infusions, etc) is placed in the chest area. It has a little rubber dam under the skin that I can access with a special L shaped needle-the line goes up into my subclavian vein. It is different from a picc line in that it stays in rather being used for a short period of time-usually for around a year. They use it a lot for chemo patients. I have one because I have absolutly no veneous access because I have an autoimmune blood disorder that has required frequent blood draws, blood transfusions and IV antibiotics. Many times it takes 6 sticks just to have blood drawn for a blood test and I recently went in for a CT scan and they tried 8 times to get an IV in and never could. That is when my doc asked if I would be willing to have another one put in. I have also has a shunt in my arm that was to be used for plamapheresis, but it never did work. That is what is also used for dialysis.

I did bruise ribs when I hit my back in the fall and hit my shoulder and snaped my neck, so maybe that is the cause of my weird symptoms. I have figured out that it is more my sense of smell and that has made my sense of taste seem off. It does seem to be improving however, so hopefully whatever the cause, it will be short lived!!

wow,you have been thru it hon. when it comes to our taste and smell, trust me, they DO very much go hand in hand. when my nose was damaged from my sympathetic nervous system being hit, it sent a crossove like strip of SNS damage to my face(from R side chin on over to my L eye) that pervents the left nose from really even feeling 'open' anymore just to actually even breathe and my sense of taste is also way not normal either. mine is never going to reverse itself. it wouldn't hurt, and i know that thought of yet another test really sucks, but getting your c spine at least MRIed with a contrasting agent used just 'may' possibly reveal a problem or real damage caused by your fall just considering what you described? you just never truely know what just is going on inside our own bodies anywhwere really til it gets a much deeper in depth looksee? but i still most definitely would obtain ALL oif those records and to make certain about the anes's op notes. every single med used or type of anesthesia would by law just HAVE to be listed in HIS nortes? i just really am wondering,honestly this is just too strange,how in the heck they actually gave you what they are calling a true 'general" with no actual intubation?? that just does not 'sound' like the overall nature of what a genral anesthesia does or that it did not actually require the use of a breathing tube,ya know what i mean? this is truely the bigger reason you need to find out just what was used so you can at least reserch any possible side effects from it?

there is also one other just a 'possible' here? while they may not have had to actually intubate you,in order to help insure a good way of maintaining your resps ,they just 'could have' actually used what is called a "nasal airway"(when i worked EMS we just called them a 'rosebud" so i cannot actually recall the true "name' of these tubes anymore?)? instead? this is a little tube that actually goes into your NOSE that kind of has what looks like a tiny lip like a funnel almost at the very top of it, but the rest of this would go into the nasal area and stops kind of right before the throat? this just helps assure that you are able to actually take in full breathes? the one thing that alot of anesthsiologists just do when they are working a patient is move your whole neck/c spine area into a much better more neutral posistion too? this is why i make darn certain that every single anes that is going to be putting me out simply does KNOW that i have sp cord injuries and huge stability issues that are in my c spine too? but that actual movement alone(and the need for reposistioning if you were simply moving), if you did actually suffer some level of real c spine type of injuries along that area could have caused more problems too kind of thing?

but if i were where you are right now with what you have, first, make a simple phone call to that hosp to obtain the needed release of information you have to sign get sent to you. then fill that out and specifically ask for those needed documents and send it back. you should within about a week actually just get the records in your mailbox( i do this all the time). but i would also ask your primary for that referral for what i really do think is a much needed c spine contrasted MRI? you just need to know all this stuff right now and know if you do have some type of spinal issues up there as well? and if they did per chance place that nasal tube in your nose at some point, it would have to be in there too. when you still have a gag reflex goin on with the lighter sedation they simply cannot place any even smaller type of airway like a basic esophageal one used to maintain an open airway and this also keeps the tongue from falling backwards blocking your airway?? so they very easily could have used the nasal instead? just a good possible too for ya to check out in those records.

just finding out what WAS actually even used on you during that particular procedure will help in maybe even finding out that what you are actually experiencing from the sedation could actually be a real side effect? i do hope you can find some good solid info here hon. please keep me posted, FB

Thanks FB,
I actually have had 2 C-spine MRI's recently. Before my fall I was already having problems with my neck and my doc ordered one-it showed several disc problems and I had just started PT when I fell. My Dr. ordered a bunch of x-rays and an MRI after my fall and it did not show any further damage. I do still have a huge brusie going across my back from the steps,but my PT said that is where I bruised my ribs.
Today my smell is almost back to normal, however I am having another procedure on Friday-they said it would be conscious sedation, I'm going to make sure of it!!!!

well i wish some much better luck with this round than the last. i am glad things are starting to normalize for you now too. but i still would start obtaining medical records just for YOUR own medical files? they have come in very handy for me and my son who has had alot of medical issues too over the years. and always make certain to obtain EVERY single type of testing result report as well? those really ARE important. all MRIs or CTs espescially since you do have that herniation up there? they do help in many ways. make certain that any procedure you have done now or surgery,that the anesthesiologist just IS aware that you DO have a c spine issue. they will handle your c spine much more gentley. good luck on the procedure hon, FB

I had hernia surgery a week ago. My sense of smell now is such that I feel like I am always smelling something metallic or some unusual odor. It makes me feel a bit nauseated and hard to sleep. If I breathe through my mouth I don't notice it.